All Time Low
by xBeautifulTragedy
Summary: How do you get up from an all time low? Lucius never would have seen himself here.  The war is over and now Draco reveals his relationship with Hermione Granger, but the worst part is, when Lucius tries to accept her, he ends up falling for her as well.


_A/N This is written for the 'A-Z lyrics competition' by psycho-pink-faerie.  
>Also thanks so much to Aaliyanna's-SeventhHeaven for betaing this :3<br>Anyhoo, enjoy(:  
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_**All Time Low**_

_**Chapter 1. Hiding Won't Hide It.**_

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How do you get up from an all time low?

Lucius Malfoy would never have thought that he could sink as low as the way he was feeling at the moment.

Here he was, sitting at his son's wedding. The sun was shining warmly; it was simply the perfect day the grand event. Unfortunately, Lucius found himself unable to enjoy the general splendour. The only thought occupying his mind that was that his son didn't deserve _her_...or rather _she_ didn't deserve him.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, do you take Hermione Jean Granger to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Draco replied, his voice brimming with such happiness; it made Lucius sick.

"Hermione Jean Granger, do you take Draco Lucius Malfoy to be your lawfully wedded husband, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish him from his day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?"

_'Don't say it...'_

She hesitated for just a moment but that moment, to Lucius, seemed to last for an eternity. False hope began to creep into the crevices of his mind.

_'Maybe she won't...'_

"I do." She choked out as a tear ran down her face.

His stomach dropped with those two words.

"By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Draco slowly leaned in and right as their lips touched, while others were cooing, Lucius felt as if he were about to be sick. He couldn't stand to look at the sight before him.

"Come on Lucius, she may be a Mudblood, but that war ended two years ago. Get over it. They are happy together." A wizard said to Lucius as he slapped his back.

Lucius scoffed. "Yeah, Vincent, you never fail to comment on what you don't know."

"Come on chap, cheer up! It's a wedding. Now go greet your son and daughter-in-law!" Vincent caroled. He walked over to Draco and Hermione, leaving Lucius behind.

Lucius caught Draco's gaze. His son gave him a cheesy smile as Lucius turned around.

_'Fool, he has no idea...'_

The orchestra they had hired for the wedding started playing once again. The commotion filled his ears and his mind started to whirl. He needed to get out of there. He walked out from under the tent they had set up, and continued walking. To where he didn't know; he simply allowed his feet to take him away, while his mind wandered.

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><p><em><strong>12 Months Earlier<strong>_

"Father, so I was thinking, could I bring someone over tonight?" Draco asked, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to another.

Lucius set down the Daily Prophet he was reading and looked up at his son.

"Draco, you are 18, you don't need to ask. It doesn't matter to me. Do what you want." He lifted the newspaper back up to show that he was done listening. It didn't matter to him one way or the other.

"Well, it's a girl...and well, I wanted you to...err...meet her."

Lucius's head snapped up at that and he assessed Draco with a critical eye. His son had a girl coming over. Pride welled up in his chest and he found himself fully engrossed into what Draco had to say. "A girl," He lifted an eyebrow. "Well I would love to meet her. Is she more than a friend?"

Draco had only been with that Pansy girl, whom Lucius was not fond of. Apparently they had broken up during the war, which to Lucius was no loss.

"Well yes, she's my girlfriend, but I'm not sure if she meets your standards." Draco said hesitantly.

"Any girl that is good enough for my son is good enough for me." Lucius said as he opened the Daily Prophet again, to cue that their conversation was now over. He heard Draco leave the room and smirked to himself. Hopefully whomever he decided to bring over was from a good pure-blood family. If that were the case, there was a good chance Lucius already knew them.

But then again, it had to be. Even though the war has been over for a few months, Draco wouldn't suddenly change his views on society. There was nothing to worry about.

He got up and roamed around the manor until he reached the kitchens. "Lypirus," He addressed one of the many house-elves he has hired after Dobby. "We have a special guest coming over tonight. Prepare a good dinner."

"Oh yes master!" The house-elf bowed and scurried off to prepare an extravagant dinner.

"Good." Lucius said as he turned around to leave, his cloaks billowing out behind him.

He walked away with a slight skip in his step. His son was finally serious about something.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Lucius walked into the foyer just as he heard a knock on the door._ 'Ah so she's here.'_ He walked over to the door and opened it, only to see the one person he would never have expected.

Hermione Granger stood outside his home, on his doorstep.

"Ms. Granger. What are you doing here?" He said as pointed his nose up and looked down on her.

"Well that's not a polite way to welcome your guest now is it?" She replied in a smart tone.

Blood rushed to Lucius's face and he slammed the door shut as hard as he possibly could. The nerve of that boy! He couldn't believe it.

"Draco!" He yelled as he stormed into the hallway. His voice radiated throughout the house and before long Draco came rushing up to him.

"Father, uh, is she here?"

"Yes and what is THAT doing here?" He yelled. Out of all the people Draco would invite over, he invited over a Mudblood? Their enemy during the war, and the person he would hear about day in and day out from Draco; about how she was such a know-it-all, hideous, Mudblood.

"Well, just hear me out. She's not who we thought she was...she's-,"

"She's nothing!" Lucius roared. "And she is NOT setting a foot in this house!" He took a deep breath, preparing for the second round of his tirade, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Lucius, sweetheart, it's been a few months since the end of the war and those ideals are what got us into the war in the first place. We got out of going to Azkaban because we helped them. Just give her a chance."

He swung around and faced his wife. She looked up at him with her crystal blue eyes, and he knew he couldn't say no.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, while Narcissa grabbed the other. "Okay? Let's go greet our son's girlfriend."

At that moment, Lucius knew he was defeated. He would have to let that Mudblood in his house and try to have a civil dinner with her. Go figure...truly irony at its finest.

The three of them made their way out into the foyer once again, Lucius fuming the whole way. Draco rushed passed and opened the door, letting Hermione in.

Lucius took in a deep breath to keep his composure. He couldn't afford to lose his head now, especially not in front of _her_.

He did what he did best. He put on a fake smile, which turned out more like an arrogant smirk, and pretended like nothing bothered him. He would pretend it didn't bother him that she in his home. He would pretend it didn't bother him that she was breathing the same oxygen that he breathed. But most of all, he would pretend he wasn't bothered by the fact his pure-blood son was dating an insignificant Mudblood.

He watched until Draco and Hermione were out of sight before finally blowing up. "Why Narcissa? Why? Why would our son, born and raised believing people like her are filth, date such a parasite?" He was going berserk. His blood started to boil as he stood there thinking about the filth in his home. Thoughts whirled through his mind like a fierce storm. He moved his arm across a table to the right of him, causing vases and pictures to come crashing down on the floor.

"And you're just going to stand there? Don't you care at all?" He yelled as he faced Narcissa, who hadn't moved since Draco and Hermione walked away.

"I do care, but I'm mature enough to handle it."

Lucius stopped. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. We barely made it out of life in Azkaban, all because we promised to treat everyone the same. If they knew you were throwing a fit all because our son is dating someone like her, you would be locked up. The war ended. Voldemort is dead. We were wrong. I've accepted it, have you?"

She gave him a pointed look before walking away. He took in deep breaths as he stared at the ground. He heard her footsteps linger for just a few moments as she paused to deliver one final comment.

"We have a guest and we need to accept her. I'll be at dinner if you decide to show up." She said quietly. He didn't reply; only listened as her footsteps faded away.

Straightening up, he took a deep breath, swallowed his pride, and walked towards the dining room. He was going to make it through this dinner whether he liked it or not. He knew deep inside that he needed to make an appearance. He walked into the dining room only to be greeted by his son who turned and smiled at him. Narcissa looked up and back down just at quickly. "Nice of you to join us," She said to her plate.

Lucius sneered as he sat down across from Hermione. It was disgusting. She was sitting there, in his house, eating off of his plate, eating his food. He thanked god that he wasn't the one who cleaned the dishes.

"Father, Hermione was just telling us about her plans now that the war is over." Draco started.

Hermione shifted slightly but just enough that Lucius noticed. He laughed quietly knowing she was uncomfortable around him.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh really, Well now that your people won the war, you are free to do anything is that correct? Even if you don't deserve it like other..."

Narcissa kicked him, not hard, but just enough to let him know that she was angry and he needed to stop.

Hermione smiled. "Well, since I did participate in the Battle of Hogwarts, as they are calling it, it proved my magical abilities, so to answer your question, yes. Yes I can. But unlike some people," She paused for effect, "I'm not boastful, so after I finish my education, I want to get a job helping the welfare of intelligent creatures somehow."

"Lovely," Lucius said with disdain. "Intelligent creatures you say? Like what?"

"House-elves, centaurs, mermaids, giants, etc."

Lucius let out a very inelegant grunt to show that he heard her but had nothing more to say on the matter.

For the rest of the evening he sat there and listened to the painful forced conversation around him. He listened to his wife's failed attempt to talk about Quidditch, the Mudblood's rants on the ministry, and his sons plans for the future-which in turn lead to the worst argument their family had ever had. Draco said something that Lucius never thought would come out of his mouth, and after that, things quickly went sour.

Draco jumped up from his seat to block an incoming spell. "You foul git!" He yelled as he grabbed Hermione's arm and started to walk out.

"You keep living in the past while everyone else is accepting what happened, and living for the future. Accept reality you miserable old man!" Hermione managed to yell over her boyfriend's name-calling.

After that, everything went by in a blur.

Things were said, tension built, and Draco ended up leaving, and not coming back.

Narcissa swung around to face her husband after Draco disappeared. "How could you do that you moronic prat?"

Her usually tidy hair fell wildly down her shoulders and mascara streaked her pale face. Lucius has never seen her look as feral as she did now. She was always one to try to please everyone. She hardly showed any emotion and she usually stayed silent unless spoken too; she was like a porcelain doll.

But in the last hour, she sure proved she had plenty of emotion to show.

Lucius looked back at her in shock. On the outside he looked stone cold, stoic; but on the inside he was trying to suppress brewing fury.

"How could I...how could I be a moronic prat?" He asked her quietly at first but his words became louder with each pause. "Your son is the one marrying a Mudblood!"

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><p>First chapter! (: Reviews, crtiques, comments, all is welcome.<p> 


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